cerebral death
- noun
- /ˈsɛrəbrəl dɛθ/
- Specialized
:
muerte cerebral
- In cases of cerebral death, the body may still show signs of life, but brain functions have irreversibly ceased.
Examples
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It has been observed that clinical cerebral death (complete absence of reactions and reflexes and absence of spontaneous breathing) almost always occurs after the heart has begun to fail.
Blog text (8) -
Before cerebral death is confirmed, the organs of such children may become so damaged that they are unfit for organ donation.
Blog text (8) -
However, the criteria that define cerebral death cannot usually be applied to children under 7 days old.
Blog text (8) -
Procuring organs from people who have undergone cerebral death and rewarding only agents who work in a self-sacrificing way can put an end to these arguments.
Academic text (2010) -
The doctors declared her to be in cerebral death after all tests showed no brain activity.
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After suffering a severe brain injury, he was diagnosed with cerebral death, leaving his family devastated.
Synonyms
4
5.8
A condition when all brain activity stops and cannot return, even if the heart still beats
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from 'cerebral' (related to the brain) + 'death' (end of life) as indicating death of the brain or cessation of brain function. Although it is a medical/technical term (often expressed as 'brain death'), the composition is literal and cross-linguistically transparent, so a learner who knows the constituents would understand it.
Etymology
Cerebral death is a term that literally names what happens: cerebral points to the brain and death means it has 'stopped working' for good. So, it means the person has lost awareness and reflexes even if the body may still breathe for a short time.